Public service shrinks by…two people

THE SIZE of the broader public sector shrank last year by a grand total of…two people.

The Department of Statistics yesterday released data on the total number of people employed in the central government and the broader civil service in 2011.

The number of civil servants employed at the end of the quarters of 2011 were: 70,782; 72,322; 70,898; and 72,208.

At the end of Q4 of the previous year (2010), the number of civil servants stood at 72,210 – two more than at the end of Q4 2011.

The government had pledged to reduce the size of the public sector by some 1,000.

The bulk of civil servants work for the central government, where 58,673 persons were employed at the end of Q4 2011.

Six thousand worked for various non-profit organisations, 4,787 for local authorities and 3,507 for municipalities.

In addition, 8,748 people were employed by state-controlled companies at the end of Q4 2011, compared to 9,342 exactly a year earlier.

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